North Korea Weapons

Planes > Weapons

NORTH KOREA

Status of North Korea's Missile Program

On February 18, 2017, China announced that it was suspending all imports of coal from North Korea as part of its effort to enact United Nations Security Council sanctions aimed at stopping the country’s nuclear weapons and ballistic-missile program. On March 6, 2017, North Korea launched four ballistic missiles from the Tongchang-ri region towards the Sea of Japan. The launch was condemned by the United Nations as well as South Korea. The move prompted US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to embark on a diplomatic mission ten days later to Japan, South Korea and China, in an effort to address the heightened international tension in the region. On April 13, 2017, White House representative Nick Rivero was quoted saying the United States was "very close" to engaging in some sort of retaliation towards North Korea. President Trump commented on North Korea by saying they will fight the war on terrorism no matter the cost.

On April 15, 2017, at the yearly major public holiday also known in the country as the Day of the Sun, North Korea staged a massive military parade to commemorate the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung, the country’s founder and grandfather of current leader, Kim Jong-un. The parade took place amid hot speculation in the United States, Japan, and South Korea that the country would also potentially test a sixth nuclear device, but failed to do so. The parade did show off, for the first time, two new intercontinental ballistic missile-sized canisters as well as submarine-launched ballistic missiles and a land-based version of the same.

On April 16, 2017, hours after the military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea attempted to launch a ballistic missile from a site near the port of Sinpo, on the country's east coast. The missile exploded seconds after launch.

Later that month, after a visit to Washington by the top Chinese leader, the US State Department announced that North Korea is likely to face economic sanctions from China if it conducts any further tests.

On April 28, 2017, North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile over the Pukchang airfield, in North Korean territory. It blew up shortly after take-off at approximately 70 kilometers (44 miles) altitude.

On July 4, 2017, North Korea launched Hwasong-14 from Banghyon airfield, near Kusong, in a lofted trajectory it claims lasted 39 minutes for 578 miles (930 km), landing in the waters of the Japanese exclusive economic zone. US Pacific Command says the missile was aloft for 37 minutes, meaning that in a standard trajectory it could have reached all of Alaska, a distance of 4,160 miles (6,690 km). By targeting the deep waters in the Sea of Japan, North Korea is ensuring that American or Japanese divers will encounter difficulties when attempting to recover Hwasong-14's engine. Equally, North Korea is not attempting to recover any re-entry debris either, which South Korea points out is an indication that this first launch is of an ICBM which is far from ready for combat. As of July 2017, the U.S. estimates that North Korea will have a reliable nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by early 2018. On July 28, North Korea launched a second, apparently more advanced, ICBM, with altitude around 3,700 km, that traveled 1,000 km down range; analysts estimated that it was capable of reaching the continental United States.

John Schilling estimates the current accuracy of the North's Hwasong-14 as poor, at the mooted ranges which threaten US cities. Michael Elleman points out that the 28 July 2017 missile re-entry vehicle broke up on re-entry; further testing would be required. On 8 August 2017 The Washington Post reported that the Defense Intelligence Agency, in a confidential assessment, stated that North Korea has sufficiently miniaturized a nuclear warhead to fit inside one of its long-range missiles. On August 12 The Diplomat reported that the Central Intelligence Agency, in a confidential assessment from early August, has concluded that the reentry vehicle in July 28 test of Hwasong-14 didn't survive atmospheric reentry due to apogee of 3700 kilometers which caused structural stresses in excess of what an ICBM would have had in minimum energy trajectory. CIA also concluded that North Korean reentry vehicle is likely advanced enough that it would likely survive reentry under normal minimum energy trajectory.

On September 3, 2017, North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a thermonuclear bomb, also known as a hydrogen bomb. Corresponding seismic activity similar to an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 was reported by the USGS making the blast around 10 times more powerful than previous detonations by the country. The test was reported to be "a perfect success".

North Korean Missile Naming Conventions

Multiple naming conventions are used to refer to North Korean missiles, which can cause confusion. The North Koreans most often use the label Hwasong followed by a number to refer to a specific missile type. U.S. designations for North Korean missiles often use the “KN” prefix. For example, the KN-08 is referred to by North Korean as the Hwasong-13. Other missiles were named by western observers after towns near where the missiles were first test fired. The No Dong, Musudan (Hwasong 10) and Taepodong missiles fall within this convention.